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Hi Everybody, I have posted the specs to a computer I am looking to buy. I am looking for a computer that can be used for school and downloading music. I am not a gamer and I don't do anything too elaborate on computers. I am looking for something reliable and fast that will allow me switch programs quickly. What do you guys think?

Description:

The ZT Affinity 7598Mi Desktop from ZT Systems enables advanced home computing, featuring a powerful 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2320 processor a smooth, immersive experience on your PC. You can move effortlessly from one application to another without any hesitation or interruption. The 2TB hard drive enables you to store massive quantities of music and high definition video, and 12GB of fast DDR3 memory enhances your multitasking experience. Industry-leading support and advanced digital media capabilities make this system a perfect solution for enhanced performance computing.

ZT Affinity PCs are engineered for excellence and assembled in the USA using the highest quality components. Over 16 years of experience and proprietary quality control processes, backed by lifetime 24/7 toll free technical support, mean unmatched performance and dependability you can trust.

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You say school and downloading music. For the sake of brevity by downloading music I'm assuming by purchase thru Amazon, iTunes, whatever.
What do you mean by school? Is this writing papers on Word, or making videos in Premier, or what?

This machine is pretty high weighted on some specs, like the 12 GB of RAM (which, given the core apps included on this machine, is way overkill), and underweighted on others.

What kind of price are they asking for this?

Plus, I dislike the idea of computer manufacturers offering a 1 year warranty on parts and labor, most of the time, because I've not heard of this "ZT Systems" company before.

I think Dell offers 2 or 3.

EDIT: Also the 350 W power supply, given that the CPU itself is 95 watt, might be a bit tight, though given that you're not using an extra video card for gaming, that might be enoguh to allow some upgrades.

The inclusion of a dvd burner but no blu-ray player drive (usually $40 for a basic non-combo drive) is kind of weak, given that this machine should be more than capable of watching blu-ray movies on.

$600 after $100 off is a bit much for it, but it seems 24x7 phone support isn't such a bad idea.
The company itself seems legit, I wouldn't completely trust them though, as their own website shows the i7 badge for the CPU rather than the i5 badge ... a bit of shoddy marketing there.

Overall it's not a /bad/ machine, but there might be better out there for less $. It's up to you and your needs for how to obtain it, though, too.

I won't disparage one brand or another on laptops. They're a trickier breed of beast.

I will say that the specifics on that laptop are decent...
The quad-core processor is nice, but at 1.4 GHz, unless you're doing a lot of multi-core threaded apps (and to be honest, most productivity software like Office is NOT multi-threaded, so it won't really take advantage of multiple cores), you'll find the speed to be a bit undesirable. While boot up may not be as slow as with a single-core 1.4, the multiple cores won't really help you as much. The only place this'll really help you is in re-encoding music, from, say, a CD, to your personal MP3 collection, as that can run faster.

Is CostCo your only reliable source for purchase? Online resources might be more reasonable, though carrying shipping costs. TBH, CostCo is not a computer reseller, they're a warehouse, so you're going to find that they get from whatever brands will give them a discount. While that laptop has good specs in most places, that quad 1.4 makes it a real turnoff in mind. You'd probably find a dual 2.6 or dual 2.8 a better deal, especially at nearly $600.

What's your target budget? What's your primary need? A laptop will do you great if all you want is a decent computer, and the portability of a laptop can be king in that aspect.

My best advice is shop around, and figure out what you need, not just numbers. TBH, a quad 1.4 for $600? Seems a bit high, when acer offers an Aspire dual 1.8 for $450.